Tinnitus is the phantom sensation of hearing in the absence of external sounds. Two main types of tinnitus include (1) objective tinnitus, which is caused by sounds generated somewhere in the body; (2) subjective tinnitus, which is the perception of meaningless sounds without any physical sound being present. Objective tinnitus is rare and is caused by a sound in the body, such as turbulent flow of blood or muscle contractions in the head. Such tinnitus can be heard by an observer in contrast to subjective tinnitus, which can only be heard by the individual who has the tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus is the most prevalent type of tinnitus. Tinnitus sounds can take a variety of forms such as buzzing, ringing, or a range of other sounds.
Tinnitus often occurs as a result of dysfunction of the hearing system, such as from noise exposure, presbyacusis or from administration of specific pharmacologic agents. It can also be caused as the result of ear or head injuries, some diseases of the ear, ear infections and emotional stress. Perhaps the most common source of chronic tinnitus is exposure to loud sound. The noise causes permanent damage to the sound-sensitive cells of the cochlea, a spiral shaped organ in the inner ear. One in 10 adults have clinically significant tinnitus (regular prolonged spontaneous tinnitus lasting 5 minutes or more), and for 1 in 100 adults tinnitus severely affects their ability to lead a normal life.
There are several therapeutic approaches to alleviate tinnitus including, for example, sound therapy or sound enrichment, cognitive-behavioral therapy, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, epidural cortical stimulation with implantable electrodes, and treatment using anti-depressants, anxiolytics, anesthetics, anti-convulsants, analgesics, anti-arrythmics, herbal medicines, anti-coagulants, sedative-hypnotics, anti-histaminergic compounds, anti-psychotics, anti-oxidants, vasodilators, and the like.
What is needed is a method of topically treating tinnitus and related disorders that is effective and easy to implement.